Week of February 27 – March 5, 2026

Water Quality

On October 7th, 2025 BK Keramati and Gordon Boyd stood before the City Council insisting the public was drinking from a “poisoned mud puddle.” To me this was troubling as I had to explain to my children both how the public water was safe but also how adults contort their words to justify an end. Within a week of taking office, Commissioner Keramati said the water is “perfectly safe.”

In his first independent decision, Keramati chose to forward a “Field Manager” position which will report to the garage, not the water treatment plant. When told the City didn’t have the funds, he blamed the form of government. Fool me once, shame on you; afterward shame on me.

Instead of a transition meeting with me, Mr. Keramati chose to meet with the City’s former DPW staff and its engineering consultants. Because current staff excluded, the consultant was unaware of the proactive steps we took for identifying new water sources. It seems to me that sensationalizing the quality of our drinking water was to make a campaign issue of it, not solving an actual problem.

With the City is on the precipice of another round of TTHM sampling with exceedance likely, my question is this: is the water a poisoned mud puddle or is it perfectly safe? And if it’s a poisoned mud puddle, why is he creating positions that aren’t associated with fixing it? If it’s not, why the sensationalized language? As I’ve had to tell my children, words matter.

– Chuck Marshall

Saratoga Springs